Qunyang Li is a full professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics, and a research member in the State Key Laboratory of Tribology at Tsinghua University. Before taking the position at Tsinghua, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher and research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2012. He received a Ph.D. degree from Brown University in 2008 and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University in 2001 and 2003, respectively. His current research aims at understanding how surfaces (both solid and liquid) interact at small scales and bridging nanoscale intrinsic properties to macroscale behavior through experiments and mechanics modeling.
Address: Mong Man-Wei Science & Technology Building, Room N-525, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China
Tel: +86-10-62772933(office);
Email:qunyang@tsinghua.edu.cn
Education background
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Ph. D. in Engineering, May 2008
Dissertation: “Micromechanics of pseudo-single-asperity friction: effects of nanometer-scale roughness.” (Advisor: Kyung-Suk Kim)
Sc. M. Applied Mathematics, May 2007
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Sc. M. Engineering Mechanics, 2003
Thesis: “Mechanics studies of micro- adhesive contact and instability of thin films.” (Advisor: Shouwen Yu)
Sc. B. Engineering Mechanics, 2001
Experience
Full Professor, Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Aerospace, Tsinghua University, 2019-now
Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Aerospace, Tsinghua University, 2012-2019
Research Scientist, NanoTribology Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, 2010-2012
Postdoctoral Researcher, NanoTribology Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, 2008-2010
Research Assistant, Nano and Micro Mechanics Laboratory, Brown University, 2003-2008
Areas of Research Interests/ Research Projects
His current research aims at understanding how surfaces (both solid and liquid) interact at small scales and bridging nanoscale intrinsic properties to macroscale behaviors through experiments and mechanics modeling.
Specifically:
1. understanding mechanical behavior of novel materials, especially their friction, adhesion and wear properties at small scales;
2. quantitatively studying how nano-scale material properties affect surface interactions at multiple length scales and/or under complex conditions;
3. developing new experimental protocols and instruments to better characterize mechanical behavior of interfaces at different length scales;
4. mechanism-based multi-scale modeling of mechanical behavior at the interfaces.
Awards and Honors
1. Science and Technology Award for Young Investigators, The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2017
2. Outstanding Youth Program, The National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2014
3. The Outstanding Thesis Award, for the best Ph.D. thesis (one recipient per year), Division of Engineering, Brown University, 2008.
4. William N. Findley Award, for the best graduate student paper on the “Mechanical Behavior of Materials” (one recipient per year), Division of Engineering, Brown University, 2006.
5. James R. Rice Graduate Fellowship, academic award for first-year graduate student (one recipient per year), Division of Engineering, Brown University, 2003.
6. Dean’s Fellowship, Graduate School, Brown University, 2003.
7. Outstanding Thesis Award, for the best master’s thesis (top 5%), Tsinghua University, 2003.
8. Outstanding Master Graduate Student, for the best master graduate student (one recipient per year), Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, 2003.
9. Honorable Excellent Graduate Scholarship, First Class, Tsinghua University, 2002.
10. Consecutive scholarships for excellent undergraduate students, Tsinghua University, 1998-2000.
Academic Achievement
Qunyang Li’s work has been published in the leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Nature, Science, PNAS, Physical Review Letters, JMPS, Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The work has been reported and highlighted by public media and agents, such as NSF, NSFC, MRS, ACS, STLE, RSC, ScienceDaily, MIT News, PhysOrg, ChinaDaily.
A few representative articles are given as follows (more details can be found athttp://www.imelab.org/publication.html).
1. Zhang, S., Hou, Y., Li, S., Liu, L., Zhang, Z., Feng, X.-Q. and Li, Q.* 2019 Tuning friction to a superlubric state via in-plane straining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (published online)
2. Zhang, S., Ma, T., Erdemir, A. and Li, Q.* 2019 Tribology of two-dimensional materials: From mechanisms to modulating strategies, Materials Today, 26, 67-86.
3. Li, S., Li, Q.*, Carpick, R.W.*, Gumbsch, P., Liu, X.Z., Ding, X., Sun, J. and Li, J.* 2016 The evolving quality of frictional contact with graphene, Nature, 539, 541-545.
4. Li, Q., Tullis, T.E., Goldsby, D. & Carpick, R.W.* 2011 Frictional ageing from interfacial bonding and the origins of rate and state friction. Nature, 480 (7376), 233-236.
5. (Lee, C., Li, Q.), Kalb, W., Liu, X., Berger, H., Carpick, R.W.* & Hone, J. 2010 Frictional characteristics of atomically-thin sheets. Science, 328(5974), 76-80
*** Lee, C. and Li, Q. equally contributed to this paper.
6. Li, Q.*, Dong, Y., Perez, D., Martini, A. & Carpick, R.W. 2011 Speed dependence of atomic stick-slip friction in optimally matched experiments and molecular dynamics simulations: The role of dynamics vs. energetics. Physical Review Letters, 106, 126101.
7. Zheng, X., Gao, L., Yao, Q., Li, Q., Zhang, M., Xie, X., Qiao, S., Wang, G., Ma, T., Di, Z., Luo, J. and Wang, X. 2016 Robust ultra-low friction state of graphene via moiré superlattice confinement, Nature Communications, 7.
8. Li, Q., Kim, K.-S. & Rydberg, A. 2006 Lateral force calibration of an atomic force microscope with a dia- magnetic levitation spring system. Review of Scientific Instruments, 77, 065105.
